Menagerie Within
by StabbytheMisanthrope
Summary: Raven is stuck in Beast Boy's mind. In her journey to escape, she ends up traveling with a talking dog, meeting hummingbirds, apes, and dinosaurs. But what happens when she meets the most terrifying Beast of all?
1. Doorways

"Hey Cyborg! Whatcha' doing?"

Cyborg almost swore. Beast Boy had a nose for mischief (especially if the mischief involved Raven), and not two minutes — _two minutes_ — into his repairs on the heroine's door, and Beast Boy had closed in for the kill.

"I'm fixing the door to Raven's room. I never got around to repairing it properly from when we knocked it off its rails the first time." Not to mention damage from earthquakes, Sladebots, giant laser beams, and the Apocalypse. Really, it was a wonder that any of the original parts from Titans Tower were still working after nearly three years of punishment.

"Can I help?" the green-furred teenager asked, poking his head into Cyborg's field of vision.

"Like you did with your closet door?"

"That just means I've got experience with doors!"

"_Combat_ experience, from the way you I saw you fightin' with it."

Beast Boy didn't respond, having moved on to poking around Raven's room.

"Hey, remember what happened last time you messed with Raven's stuff," he warned.

"Hey, that was the first time," the changeling protested. "Last time, I just spied on her, no problem," he dismissed.

Cyborg didn't look up from his work, so the stern look he gave was lost on the troublesome door. "Not helping your case, BB," he said.

"But I'm not touching anything!"

This time he did look up, half-expecting Beast Boy to have his finger hovering half an inch away from something, like some immature child feuding with their sibling in the back seat. To his credit, he was standing in the middle of her room, hands stuffed into armpits, in defiance of his touchy-grabby impulses.

Cyborg snorted. That just meant that when Beast Boy finally did touch something, his hands would stink.

Having determined that it was beyond repair, the half-man, half-machine stood up and pulled the door out of its frame, hydraulic limbs having no problems wrenching out the two-inch-thick steel slab. He set the door aside briefly to rip its rails out, too, before picking it back up and turning to leave (the replacement parts he needed were in the basement). He also picked up Beast Boy.

"What — hey! I —!"

"_No way_ am I leaving you alone in Raven's room. You'd probably break something. Or booby trap it so Raven gets a bucket of flour or something dropped on her."

"Hey, I'd never do that! Even if it was really funny!" Beast Boy squirmed in Cyborg's iron grip.

"Quit while you're behind, BB."

The pair had arrived at the basement entrance, and Cyborg had to put Beast Boy down to open the door.

"Hey, I think I feel the Gamestation calling me!" the changeling said, speeding off in a blur of green hair and purple-and-black jumpsuit before his friend could rope him into carrying supplies.

Cyborg hoped that Beast Boy was sensible enough not to have gone back to Raven's room. Unfortunately, he knew that he was wrong, because "sensible" and "Beast Boy" rarely belonged in the same sentence (and any sentence they _did_ share had "not" in it).

* * *

><p>He <em>technically wasn't<em> touching anything. He was standing in the middle of her room, hands shoved in his pits again, partly to restrain himself and partly because Raven's room always felt cold to him. Then, he spied her magic mirror.

"I really shouldn't," he thought, but he had already zipped over to the dresser-thingie. One of these days, his impulsiveness was going to bite him in the butt.

("It's not a 'dresser-thingie'. It's a _ _ _ _," Raven-in-his-head corrected him. Of course, he didn't know the right word himself, so head-Raven's blank answer was unhelpful, to say the least.)

He held up the hand-mirror. At first, he felt a little nostalgic, remembering how _fun_ it had been in Raven's head, and how happy he was to have actually gotten to spend time with her. Then a bunch of other thoughts started piling on.

It really was a fine mirror. Thing. It was pretty, in a Goth-y sort of way. Beast Boy fussed with it to get a better feel for its heft and shape.

"Ooh, I can totally rig it, so when Raven reaches for it, she gets showered with flour! That'd be awesome!" he thought, already envisioning the arrangement of string and weights he'd need to set up such a trap. It's not like it'd hurt her — the girl needed some pizzazz in her life, and he could always claim it was Cyborg.

But… That'd also be kind of mean. He remembered the time he hurt Starfire with his oil-balloon slingshot. Even if it had been meant for Cyborg, it hadn't been very nice. And friends shouldn't be mean to friends.

He wondered how the mirror worked, and if he could use it to enter his _own_ mind.

_It would serve her right if_ — He squashed that thought before it could finish.

Wasn't he getting ahead of himself? How on earth was he going to use something that he didn't understand? Really, there was no reason to not just put the mirror down and walk away. Maybe he could ask her about it later.

_That_ would certainly impress her — being all mature about it, and stuff. Show her that he could change, as a person.

One last, awful idea crossed his mind. He felt his insides writhe. _What if the reason she spent so much time in her room was_ him_?_

Beast Boy quickly brushed that last thought aside, because it made him really uncomfortable, and seized upon what seemed like the smartest idea: he was going to enter his own mind.

He focused on the mirror, concentrating with all his might, until it felt like he'd get a headache. And... nothing. He tried again. And this time he dropped the mirror in a panic as he heard footsteps approaching.

Raven stood in the doorway with Cyborg, who held the mystery parts he needed to fix her door.

"What are you doing in my room?" she asked, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Not touching anything!" he insisted, much too quickly. She glared at him, and he fled the room.

She walked over to the vanity, took the mirror, and turned to Cyborg. She stood there awkwardly, looking uncomfortable in her own room.

He could guess why. Glancing at the mirror in her hand, he said, "There're a ton of guest rooms, if you want some privacy."

She blinked at him. "Thanks."

"Sure thing. I'll message your communicator when I'm done."

"I'd… appreciate that." And she was gone.

It was a sign of how much she trusted him that their conversation had taken place at all.

* * *

><p>She locked the door in the closest guest quarters, and focused on her mirror. And realized something was horribly wrong when she saw green, instead of black, as she was drawn into the mirror.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

My intent with this story is to provide a counterpoint to the several stories out there that revolve around Beast Boy's "mindscape."

The glorious thing about "journey through a person's mind" stories is that it's one of the few times you can be as overtly symbolic or needlessly abstract as you want. You can do anything you want—_anything_. Or, you can just do what everybody else does, and rehash the episode "Nevermore" but with Beast Boy's and Raven's roles switched. Way to reach for the stars, fanfiction writers.

(I'd be remiss if I didn't cite the stories in Teen Titans fandom which _do_ avoid cliches with mindscapes: "One Which Makes The Heart Run Over", by GuardianSaiyoko; and "Measure of a Titan" chapters 27-28, by General Havoc. Both of those stories are really, really good, and I highly recommend them.)

**Legal Stuff:**

That picture of the Tyrannosaurus and a dog up top? Not mine. But, via Creative Commons, I can use it with attribution: "T Rex," by Julian Frost, 2009, released under Creative Commons 2.0 (CC BY 2.0).


	2. Stopping to Smell the Flowers

Everything was wrong. She saw green instead of black, and instead of the sound of dark power rushing past her ears, she heard animals. A dozen wings beating, scales brushing against dirt, and bodies driving through water. Chirps, hisses, growls, and grunts. And lastly, a thunderous roar, terrifying but familiar, drowning everything else out.

Raven landed, and where she found herself was nothing like the dark sky and unmoored rocks that dominated her own mind.

There was no path — no clearly-marked trail to guide her to the Aspects that represented the facets of the self. She was stranded in a lightly-wooded field, surrounded by waist-high plants with far too many flowers and trees in full bloom. The sky wasn't dead, like she was used to. There was wind, cold enough to chill, but where the sun hit her skin it burned. The horizon wasn't empty, either, but was filled with hills building up to mountains.

"I'm _somewhere_," the empath said to herself, "just not… _my_ mind." She sank down to the ground at that, instinctively assuming the Lotus position she used for meditating. She had felt that this was not her mind the moment she entered the mirror, but had hoped that she was wrong, that the flowers and sky meant this was Happy's domain, and the Aspect would appear any moment now.

Because she had no idea what to do otherwise.

For once, she would have welcomed Happy, however irritatingly upbeat and pink-clad she was. But, for once, her giggling doppelganger didn't appear.

The sorceress heard a rustling sound in the undergrowth, and a slightly lisping voice say, "Oh, this is gonna' be _great_!" She whipped her head in the direction of the noise.

"Who's there?" she asked. No answer.

There was a sudden humming sound in her ear, and Raven automatically reached up to swat away the source.

"Hello, Rae!" a voice chirped.

A tiny bird perched on her raised hand, its iridescent plumage catching the light and flashing its colors — a patch of stunning blue on the underside of its throat, and the rest a shining green.

A hummingbird.

"You know who I am," she stated.

"Of course! We all do!" it tweeted before she could continue, "Raven, um — do you have a last name? — Raven no-last-name! Psychic extraordinaire! Thrower of objects — and occasionally Beast Boy —, conqueror of Trigon, reader of books! She who —"

Raven was a bit flattered hear that others thought of her so positively. (Inside her, Happy was immensely pleased that "creepy" had been nowhere in that description.) But first and foremost, she needed to know whose mind she was in.

"I'm flattered, but I need to know where I am."

The hummingbird settled down again, having started zipping around while continuing to effuse praise for the heroine.

"I'm — _we're_ — part of Beast Boy," it said.

Raven stared, eyes gone wide. "What?"

The bird started flitting around again. "Ooh, ooh! I can show you around! We've all met you before — don't worry, we think Rex is a jerk, too — but now we can meet _for real_!"

"What?"

"Dude, this is gonna' be _so awesome_!

"_What_?"

"And we can talk and play games and —"

Raven desperately needed to think, and Beast Boy, as usual, was being a pain. "Beast Boy?" she said, massaging her forehead.

"Yes?" the tiny bird peeped.

"Please shut up."

Beast Boy squeaked and promptly shut up.

"First, I need to know what Aspect you are," Raven began, levitating up to stand. She wasn't going to keep calling the hummingbird "Beast Boy"; it would only lead to confusion. "Second, I need to know where the portal out of here is. And third," she continued, shooting a glare at the bird when it opened its beak to start talking, "I need to know if there's anything I should avoid while here."

"My Aspect?" the bird queried.

"To start with," Raven said.

"A hummingbird."

"I can see that," she said, sarcastically. Her patience was stretching, but not quite breaking. (She had never been particularly tolerant of Beast Boy's stupidity, and now was never a good time to start.) "I mean, which _emotion_ do you represent?"

"A Magnificent Hummingbird," he said simply, oblivious to her growing frustration.

"I'm sure you are," she deadpanned, "but that doesn't tell me anything."

"'Course it does! I'm _Eugenes fulgens — _the Magnificent Hummingbird!" Hummingbird said, as if it explained everything.

Raven decided that strangling something as delicate as a hummingbird with her powers would not end well, and settled for a glare.

"You should ask Orangutan. He's the supposed to be the smart one," Hummingbird suggested.

"Orangutan is Wisdom, then?"

"Orangutan is an orangutan. We call him Orangutan."

Raven decided this was going nowhere. She tried a different tack. "This is your domain, right?" she asked him.

The bird nodded. Or rather, twitched its beak vigorously up and down.

"Then can you tell me why it's so… flowery?" she asked, gesturing around her. An Aspect's domain told almost as much about the Aspect itself as asking directly.

"I like flowers! So there are flowers. Do you like flowers?"

"Uh, not really."

"Oh. That's a shame. Cause there are just so many! I just want to stop and smell them all! And I hope I never run out!" Hummingbird was insufferably exuberant, flitting from flower to flower, as if to illustrate his point.

"I like the purple ones. They're pretty," he said softly, alighting on her shoulder, beak lightly brushing her purple hair. "Like you."

Raven blushed, and Hummingbird flitted off as she raised her hood to hide it. Happy was squealing with joy inside, while Affection just smiled. It'd be more flattering if Hummingbird wasn't a bird. What did it say that the first person to hit on her was the wrong species, and probably smaller than Beast Boy's —

"Uh, thanks," she managed. "But, I really need to find a way out. Preferably now. I can't stay in someone else's mind like this. It's not safe; you have no idea what damage I can do." When Beast Boy and Cyborg had been in her mind, it had caused wild mood swings in her. As experienced with her own mindscape as she was, being in someone else's was not something she would ever ask for.

"Orangutan's the smart one. Why don't you go see _him_? I'm sure he knows the way out."

Raven paused, weighing his suggestion. "What sorts of things does he know?" This _was_ Beast Boy's mind they were talking about. She doubted he had the intense self-awareness needed to properly manage a mindscape.

"A whole bunch of things! Like how to beat Cyborg at video games —"

She knew it. Beast Boy was Beast Boy, and his mind was going to be every bit the disappointment she imagined it to be.

Hummingbird continued, oblivious to her sighing, "And how to beat the bad guys! And how to rig the best booby traps!"

Raven stopped him. "What was that last one, again?"

"Building the best booby traps. Snake always _wants_ to build them, but Orangutan is the one that knows _how_." Hummingbird seemed to love gossiping about his fellow Aspects.

She rolled her eyes at that. _Of course_ Beast Boy had an entire Aspect dedicated to pranking people. But that wasn't the part that she was interested in.

"No, the one before _that_," she said.

"Beating the bad guys? Orangutan always has a ton of ideas for that. But, uh," he said, embarrassed, "I'm not usually around for fights. I'm not much use in them."

Raven was reevaluating. However Hummingbird insisted, it seemed Orangutan really was Beast Boy's equivalent to Wisdom. And she'd need all the brains she could muster to get out of Beast Boys head.

Beast Boy would probably turn that into a joke.

"I need to see Orangutan. Without," she said firmly, "any detours."

Hummingbird looked disappointed. "Aw. You're no fun, Rae."

"You're absolutely right. _I'm not fun_. Now, if we could get going…" She left it at that.

"Okay, okay. The shortest way to Orangutan is that way," said the bird, jabbing his beak in the direction of a distant, formidable hill. Or it would be formidable, if Raven couldn't fly.

"I'll… lead the way, then?" Hummingbird asked, unsure.

Raven shrugged. "It's your mind."

They both flew up, above the reach of the trees, and soared towards the hill. Or at least they tried to, until Raven found that hummingbirds didn't really "soar" towards anything, and adjusted her speed to not leave the bird behind.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

For the record, Raven was going to say "Beast Boy's hand," not "dick." Get your mind out of the gutter :)

Beast Boy does turn into a hummingbird in the course of the show (season 4, "The End, Part III").

I chose the Magnificent Hummingbird because it's relatively big for a hummingbird, while still being colorful (the Giant Hummingbird has rather dull plumage). I wanted it to be the right size, because most species of hummingbird are ridiculously small — barely the size of a person's thumb, and the kind Beast Boy transforms into looks a bit bigger than that.

The Magnificent Hummingbird lives in mountainous areas around Arizona and Mexico, and I based the weather and terrain off of my admittedly limited experience with mountain regions. Except with a ton more flowers, because, realism aside, it also needed to be a hummingbird's paradise.

If I suck, tell me, so I can fix it.


	3. Man's Best Friend

Two years ago, Beast Boy hurt Starfire with a thoughtless prank.

It had been Snake's idea. Lord knew Beast Boy listened to that Aspect far too much. As was not uncommon, his plan backfired, and the contraption built for Cyborg hit Starfire instead. As was usual, Snake didn't care — a prank well done was a prank well done. _Who_ it hit was up to Beast Boy. But there are always other Aspects. Snake might push friends away, but Dog kept them. As always, Dog cleaned up the mess.

Two years ago, Dog fought Snake. And Dog won.

* * *

><p>Raven could handle distance flights if she had to, and by rights, the hill they needed to reach shouldn't have taken that long. But she quickly learned something else about hummingbirds: they tired easily. What could've been instantaneous (had she felt comfortable teleporting within another person's mind), five minutes (at her top flight speed), or fifteen minutes (Hummingbird's top speed), became fifteen minutes plus <em>constant breaks<em>. By the time they reached the hill, she'd lost track of how many breaks Hummingbird had taken and lost track of time.

The two of them finally reached the hill, and, when they landed just short of its crest, Hummingbird stopped (again) to hover in midair. "So, Rae —"

"Can you please just wait _one more minute_? We're almost there," she snapped, "and you've shoved your face in more than enough flowers already."

"I can't help it—I tire easily!" Hummingbird defended. "Look at these tiny wings!" he said, beating them harder for effect, "I'm not like you — I don't carry any fat reserves with these!"

Raven drew her cloak around her self-consciously. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?" she said in a deadly tone.

The beating of his wings faltered as he realized what he'd said. "Uh, I mean, anatomically speaking, females have a higher ratio of fat to, uh — I'll shut up now."

"Smooth. Real smooth," she quipped. "Word of advice, to you and Beast Boy: never tell a girl what it's like to be a girl." Raven left it at that (she knew that belaboring the point rarely worked on Beast Boy). Hummingbird awkwardly zipped off to drink yet more nectar, and she waited yet again for him.

After the avian returned from his break (which he thought graciously shortened from seven to five minutes, and Raven thought too damn long for sucking sugar from flowers), the pair finished cresting the hill.

Raven blinked. They were no longer surrounded by foothills and flowers, but a field of grass, crossed by sidewalks and dotted with benches and trees. There were also more than enough garbage cans, and every one of them was tipped over, their innards spilled across the sidewalks. A few feet in front of them, a sign stuck in the grass read, "Out — Snake problems. Please wait."

Hummingbird hovered in front of her. "So, this is the end of my territory…"

"Which Aspect's domain is this?" she asked before he could fly off again.

"This is Dog's place," the bird answered. "All the garbage cans have been raided, and he's the only one who eats that crap."

"Where is he, then?" she asked.

"Out," he said, gesturing at the sign. "Chasing Snake again, I guess. We should wait for him."

"Why don't we keep heading straight for Orangutan," she stated more than asked, turning to head across the park.

"I like Dog," answered Hummingbird nonsensically. "He's, uh, reliable."

"'I like him' isn't a good reason to wait — I _need_ to get out."

"I'd rather wait for Dog if Snake's around," he said. "I don't like Snake so much. He puts glue in my flowers," the avian explained in a subdued tone.

Raven raised an eyebrow at that, and remembered that Snake was (probably) Beast Boy's inner prankster. Resigned, she sat down on a nearby bench, ready to put her head in her hands and groan at the prospect of this taking any longer.

She frowned instead. The bench was sticky. And it smelled. In realization, she snapped to her feet, whipping around to inspect her cloak. "_Beast Boy_!" she threatened automatically, seeing the stripes of bench paint on her clothes.

"So, uh, do you mean me, or…" Hummingbird asked uncertainly.

"Snake," she corrected herself, trying out the word and finding it fit perfectly. "_Snake_ did this, didn't he?"

"Probably," the tiny bird answered. "Why don't I check —" he zipped skywards, hovered for a moment, and returned to Raven's head level.

"I don't see Snake, but Dog's coming."

He half-started to zip away, again, before he paused and turned to her. "Gotta' go now! I gotta' eat, and there's only, like, three kinds of flower here."

"Wait," she said, holding up her hand in a stopping gesture. Her cloak was momentarily forgotten — she needed an answer. "You never answered my other question: is there anything I should avoid while here? Anything _dangerous_?" Dog sounded safe, but Raven was thinking of the Beast.

Hummingbird pondered for a moment. "Dog turds. They're spread all around here. Watch where you put your feet." And before she could protest, the bird flew off.

"Hello, Rae," a voice panted behind her.

The heroine looked down and saw a dog. It was a strange dog, one that looked like a mutt mixed from every breed on Earth. It stood at about knee-height, and smelled of garbage and old tofu.

She pushed aside her growing irritation. Beast Boy or not, there was no need to be rude. "Let me guess," she said flatly, "'Dog'?"

Dog wagged his tail and barked happily at her.

"Sorry for making you wait. Snake — he does things like this — knew you were coming and set up every prank, booby trap, and trick in the book. I just finished cleaning them up."

"Well, you missed one," she said, gesturing to the stripes on her cloak.

He gave a weary sigh. "I know. I smelled the paint on you."

She looked at Dog intently. "I asked Hummingbird earlier," she said, "but I didn't get a real answer: is there anything dangerous in Beast Boy's mind I should know about? Like his inner Beast?"

The mutt considered things for a moment. "As far as I know, the Beast isn't around anymore. But aside from Snake, there's —"

"_Yes_! I was _hoping_ you'd sit down," a voice interrupted. It had slight lisp to it. "When I heard you were coming, I painted all the benches." Snake crawled onto the bench, rearing up to put himself at eye level with Raven. He seemed oblivious to the brown paint he was getting all over himself. "It's the best I could I do with such short notice."

Raven had to restrain herself from hurling the reptile across the field; that probably _would_ damage Beast Boy's mind. "You ruined my best cloak," she said, instead. (That was a lie; every cloak was the same.)

Snake waved his tail flippantly. "All your cloaks are the _same_. And if you did have a special one, I wouldn't have touched it." (That was his own lie; it was Dog's job to worry about those things.) Dog growled dangerously at that, hackles raised, ready to lunge at Snake.

Part of her noted that Snake did not always have fangs when he opened his mouth, and the color and pattern of his scales seemed to shift each time she looked away. The rest of her was growing as irritated and angry as Dog was with Snake's callousness. ("Don't get angry," she told herself. Anger was a treacherous Aspect.)

Self-control clamped down, forcing calm. Momentarily distracted from her big question, she thought of a few smaller ones. "I'm supposed to believe that a creature with no hands or limbs can paint?" she asked.

Snake was miffed. "Hey — it's hard work! I spent, like, forever painting them."

Raven frowned at that. "Did I really take that long with Hummingbird?" she thought.

"Well aren't you productive," she in a deadpan voice.

Dog growled at him again. He didn't seem to like Snake very much. "Actually," the canine said harshly, "as an Aspect he can just _change_ things."

She quirked an eyebrow at that. "Really," she responded dubiously.

The canine shrugged at her tone. "It's an Aspect thing," he explained neutrally. "Hummingbird likes flowers, so his place has flowers. I eat garbage and tofu, so there's always some around. And _Snake_," he glared at the reptile, tone shifting to something harsher, "makes potholes for us to step in."

Snake nodded approvingly at this. "For example," he said, "I could make a tree root appear _right _in front of you," he glanced down to her feet, "so when you step forward, you'll trip."

Raven looked down at her feet, and, as she did so, Snake's tail lashed out and swiped her nose.

"Ha! Made ya' look!"

Dog just rolled his eyes at. It had been a relatively harmless joke, so he let it pass. Snake, apparently satisfied with getting in at least two pranks out of the dozens he'd planned, slithered down from the bench.

"So, are we going or what?" the reptile asked, prompting a suspicious look from the canine.

"What do _you_ care?" he demanded.

"What? I'm bored, I've got nothing better to do, and if I leave you'll just accuse me of running off to cause trouble. And," the snake said, gesturing at Raven, "it means I get to stay in the company of a lovely lady." He flicked out his tongue at her.

Her eyes widened at that, repulsed. What was kind of sweet coming from Hummingbird was full-on creepy coming from a snake.

"Uh, thanks," she said, not thankful in the slightest, but too flustered to know what to say.

They headed to Orangutan. Dog walked on her right side, guiding her there. Snake slithered on her left, looking appropriately mollified whenever the canine glared over at him.

Halfway there, the reptile got bored and slithered off. As soon as they were out of sight, he made for Orangutan's place, taking one of the shortcuts he knew. Raven and Dog had barely talked while walking, and what little they said was of little concern. His work was done, for the moment.

Raven and Dog quickly reached the edge of his territory. Even walking, it hadn't taken quite as long as Hummingbird with his breaks.

Dog stopped at the creek which marked the end of his domain. Although the park appeared to stretch for some ways past the creek, Raven knew once they crossed it, the terrain would shift to something completely different.

"Past this is Orangutan's place," he said, gesturing with his nose.

"So… I guess this is goodbye, then?" the heroine asked, hesitantly.

"Don't be silly. Wouldn't be much of a dog if I abandoned you, would I?" He wagged his tail gamely. "I'll never leave your side. Not until you're gone."

She didn't know whether to thank him or groan with dread at that.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Great. I made Hummingbird *fabulous*, and gave an incredibly phallic animal a lisp. I'm just a bear and a rainbow away from winning gay stereotype bingo.

Raven asking, "Has it really been that long?" is my way of both acknowledging and trying to paper over the dodgy logistics of Snake rigging up _everything_ in so short a span of time. I don't really have an answer to it, unfortunately.

I rewrote this chapter after the first time I posted it. My beta told me (in no uncertain terms) that while the original was okay, it was by no means my best. And I want to try my best.

The original had a breezy tone that wasn't necessarily what I wanted. I was also dissatisfied with my characterization of Dog and Snake. I wanted the former to be friendly and loyal, and the latter to be a callous at best. I realized their natures were clearly opposed to one another, so I made their relationship more antagonistic — Dog doesn't just roll his eyes tolerantly at Snake, he growls and threatens him.

(I'm still not happy with how I write Raven. She feels less like a character in her own right and more like a cut-out that walks around and stuff happens to her.)

I apologize to any reader that read the original. Thank you for putting up with my constant fussing, and I hope you'll continue reading my story. Even if you liked the first version more :)

Sincerely,

Stabby the Misanthrope


	4. Interlude I: A Snake in the Grass

Immediately after Dog had run off to ruin Snake's pranks and traps, the reptile had slithered off to complain to whoever would listen. Which was no one. Well, almost no one.

He was starting to regret going to Rex.

"If you don't like him so much, why don't you just _kill_ him?" Rex grinned toothily at Snake as he talked. The great beast had many grins, but none of them were ever good news. "You're a snake — whatever snake you want to be. Poisoning and choking are both options."

Snake was horrified by the idea. "Uh, sure… That's a good idea," he managed to say. "I really shouldn't have come here," he thought. Why hadn't he gone to Orangutan's place? Orangutan always tolerated him. Oh, yeah — he'd booby-trapped his place, too. The ape would probably be all irritable because of it.

"It sounds like you think a whole lot about killing," he said casually. Snake's philosophy was that awkward conversation beat awkward silences, any day. Well, almost any day.

"I wouldn't be king if I didn't." The monster eyed him, like he would a meal that wasn't worth eating. "There are maybe a dozen ways I could kill you right now."

Snake's scales turned pale, like the bones piled in Rex's territory. "Can we go back to talking about killing Dog? Because I liked that idea a lot more."

Rex snorted at that. "Why were you rigging everything up, anyways? Is it April Fool's already?"

Snake was grateful for the turn in conversation. "Raven dropped in — can you believe it? There's no way I'd ever pass up the opportunity of a lifetime," he babbled nervously, "But Dog _ruined_ it. I don't have another lifetime to wait!"

Shit. Rex was staring at him, stiff as statue. No way was that a good sign. Snake shrank down instinctively as the tyrant opened his maw to speak.

"_Raven's_ here?" he asked in a lethal tone.

"Uh, yah. She is. Don't ask me how but… yah." Snake was frozen between fight or flight, which was unfortunate, because he always just picked "flight" anyways.

Rex thought for a moment, before his mouth broke into the biggest, deadliest grin Snake had ever seen. He moved closer to loom over the poor serpent. "I've got an idea," he stated.

"You do?" he squeaked out. The tyrant's ideas usually involved killing things.

"I just thought of the _ultimate_ prank for you to play on Raven," the towering monster said confidently.

"Th-that's great. I'd love to help." Pranks were good. He could do pranks. He didn't do killing so much.

"Why don't you trick Raven into meeting me?" Rex said. But he knew that wouldn't be enough to get Snake's support, which he'd need — he had to sell it to him, in a way Snake could understand. "You know how Raven always pushes Beast Boy around? Well, this time, _we_ can show _her_ what it's like. She'll walk around thinking 'Gosh, Beast Boy's mind is so harmless. Why do I even bother worrying?' And then, _BAM_, forty-foot predator in her face. Can you imagine the look on her?"

"Yeah. It's great," Snake said. His mind was a mess of panic and wonder, and he didn't know what to think.

"Oh it'll be awesome," Rex assured him, and then began to flesh out his plan.

A few minutes later, Rex was done, and Snake was done for.

The serpent didn't worry about intercepting Raven in time. Trickster that he was, Snake knew all of the shortcuts, and could worm his way through the holes in Beast Boy's mind. (As far as he knew, none of the others, besides Octopus, could do so. It was how he got away from Dog, and rigged pranks without being caught.) He headed for the canine's territory, figuring Hummingbird would lead her there.

He did worry about what he'd gotten himself into. As he slithered through the undergrowth, past boulders and trees, he tried convincing himself it was the best idea ever. And as he crawled past the great piles of bone and slabs of blood-stained rock, he wished he could shut his eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Fun fact: Snake can't shut his eyes, because snakes don't have eyelids (they sleep with their eyes open).

As to why every Aspect isn't immediately aware of Raven's presence: if every Aspect is aware of something, then by definition, Beast Boy knows it, too. For the purposes of this story, he doesn't, so neither do most of his Aspects.

As always: if I suck, tell me so I can fix it.


	5. The Smartest Ape in the Room

"…If you give a screw-driver to a chimpanzee it will try to use the tool for everything except its intended purpose. Give one to a gorilla and it… will try to eat it… Give it to an orangutan, however, and the ape will first hide it and then, once you have gone, use it to dismantle the cage." —Eugene Linden

* * *

><p>Orangutan eyed the contraption in the corner. It was a simple, effective booby trap, with a tripline that dropped whatever was appropriate on the victim's head. It was robust, flexible, fast to set up, and Snake was intent on ruining it.<p>

The reptile was a genius when it came to brainstorming pranks, and a prodigy at bearing petty grudges, but he could be willfully stupid when it came to other things. Like not knocking people out.

"No. A five-pound sack is too heavy," Orangutan patiently explained. If the reptile wanted to drop a pack of flour onto Raven, that was fine. The ape didn't play favorites; he helped whomever asked. But he did play smart, and the smart thing to do was not knock Raven unconscious.

"But all they have is a five-pound bag," the reptile whined. "What, now I have to go to the store, just for a teeny, weeny prank?"

"If you drop five pounds, it won't be a 'teeny' prank anymore. It'll be a 'let's get Beast Boy murdered' prank. That's what knocking Raven out would get you." The reptile had conjured a bag of flour in anticipation, and Orangutan grabbed it, white powder leaking onto red-furred hand. He hefted it threateningly, looking at Snake. "Besides, I didn't design the trap to handle more than four pounds," he lied smoothly. "Why don't we test its weight limits on _you_, first?"

* * *

><p>"Thanks. I must be the luckiest girl in the world," Raven said sarcastically.<p>

"Sure thing," said Dog, wagging his tail. Then he waded across the stream marking the entrance to Orangutan's home. Raven floated over it, preferring to stay dry.

She blinked, and, like before, she found the landscape had changed. It had become decidedly tropical. The river behind them was now muddy, and trees crisscrossed overhead, blocking out much of the sun. Even in the shade, she felt uncomfortably warm with her cloak on.

Then she glared, because Dog was shaking himself dry right next to her.

"Sorry, Rae," he said, grinning like he wasn't sorry at all. "Orangutan's this way." He headed off in what seemed like a random direction.

The sound of the stream behind them faded away as they walked. Occasionally, the sun would jab its bright rays through, and Raven would pull her hood up to block it, despite the heat.

After some time, Dog stopped and turned to Raven. "We're here," he said.

"And here would be...?" she prompted.

"Where Orangutan is. He should be just ahead." He continued walking, the heroine following closely.

They reached and unnaturally large clearing, the trees' branches nonetheless stretching across the gap to continue blocking the sun. But that wasn't what had their attention.

There was smoke and fire pouring out, and a great, furry green head floating in the air.

"I am Orangutan, the Wise and All-Knowing!" a voice boomed. "Who are _you_?"

Raven recovered swiftly from her initial shock, and gave the infernal arrangement of pyrotechnics and machinery a look of contempt. "Raven," she answered flatly.

"The Wise and All-Knowing Orangutan knows why you have —"

The equipment was engulfed in black as the sorceress swept it aside. She caught a glimpse of red fur in the mess of dark, and grabbed Orangutan with her powers, lifting him into the air.

"Pay no attention to that ape behind the curtain!" he continued anyway, still shouting into the now-disconnected microphone. "Obey —"

Raven shook him like a dirty towel and dropped him at her feet.

"Hello, Raven," the ape said casually, sitting up on the ground like he planned to be there. She glared down at him.

"Did Snake put you up to this?" Dog asked before Raven could get in a word.

"You give him far too much credit," the ape said, "I came up with this on my own. A girl and her dog, going to see a wise being to get home? You even know a Tin Man. It's a shame you don't know any Cowardly Lions or Scarecrows."

"I get what that was about, but I haven't actually seen _Wizard of Oz_," she said.

Orangutan looked stunned. "That's _awful_ —"

"Not really."

"It's a classic! I — Beast Boy — has a copy of it somewhere. We'd love to watch it with you."

Raven wasn't a movie or television person, preferring books to screens featuring explosions and people running and yelling. But there were two pairs of big, sad eyes looking up at her, and she found she really couldn't say no to that. "I, uh… Sure. When I get back home I'll watch it."

Orangutan pressed his advantage. "I know you want to know help getting out of here," he said, "but first —how about a game?"

Raven was half-done saying, "No," when the full force of two pairs of desperate, adorable eyes slammed into her, _again_, and she relented. "I'll play. But just _one_ round."

* * *

><p><em>Why couldn't it have been chess?<em> Chess was tolerable. She was good at chess. She wasn't good at... whatever they were playing.

BLAM! Her character's head exploded in a bloody mess that was the perfect metaphor for her headache.

"I don't remember _Mega Monkeys_ being this violent," she remarked, as Orangutan's kill count went up again. (She'd said only one round, and he'd responded by setting the victory requirements absurdly high.)

"That's because this isn't _Mega Monkeys_. This is _Zombie Space Marine of Duty III_. A classic." He continued trouncing her as they talked, wielding the controller with his feet while he stuffed chips into his mouth with his hands.

Snake slithered up while they played, prompting a quiet growl from Dog, which earned a sheepish grin from him. The canine glared, then pointedly ignored him. Neither of the other two noticed.

After far too long, Orangutan officially won. Apparently satisfied that Raven had suffered enough, he shut off the console and turned to face her. "Now," he said, shoving aside the game controllers, console, and snack bowls in front of them, "I guess you want to know how to get out of Beast Boy's mind?"

"More than anything," she said, allowing a small amount of urgency into her voice.

He thought for a minute. Raven waited, staring impatiently at him, as if he was a coat of paint that would dry twice as fast if you gave it harsh looks.

Orangutan very briefly met her stare (something the real Beast Boy would never do), before thinking better of it. "You landed in Hummingbird's territory, right?" he said, instead.

"Yes."

"Well, Hummingbird is one 'side' of Beast Boy's mind, and if that was the _entrance_, then the _exit_ should be on the other 'side,'" he said.

"That's it?" she said incredulously. "That's the best you can come up with?"

"What? I have no idea how you got in here — and I guess, neither do you," he said, looking at Raven for confirmation. She nodded and he continued. "And I just can't snap my fingers and summon a door out. So, yeah, it's half a guess, but it's all I got."

"Fine, fine," she almost growled in frustration, rubbing her forehead. "Where's the 'other side' I need to get to?"

"Kakapo's territory is opposite Hummingbird's. It's a straight line from here to there; Dog can guide you."

Raven stood considering her options, but, hard as she thought, she found she didn't have any.

"Alright. I'll go to Kakapo." Then, she remembered something — a question she had never gotten a full answer to. "Is there anything dangerous between here and Kakapo?" she asked.

"Yes," the ape answered, before Snake could interrupt. "Kakapo himself. There are others — Octopus will, uh, 'challenge' you, in a way — but Kakapo..." Orangutan looked unsure. "He's not the strongest, but he is the most dangerous."

"Why is he so dangerous?" she pressed.

"Every Aspect can change the mindscape — Kakapo can change it the most. Snake may make potholes, but Kakapo can make _craters_. And if he doesn't want you to leave, then you won't."

"You really know how to motivate a person," she quipped.

Orangutan shrugged. "I could've lied, but being cheery is Hummingbird's job. But that's also why you should go to him; if anyone can force a portal, it'll be him. And, anyways, aside from Kakapo, the only thing dangerous here is R—"

A thud and explosion of white powder — a sack of flour hitting the ground.

"Well, I'll be, it _works_," Snake said approvingly, white powder joining the brown paint on his scales.

"Remind me why you build things for him, again?" Dog asked quietly.

"I help whoever asks. Playing favorites is your job," the ape said.

"Yah, well, it sure doesn't 'help' _me_," Raven heard the canine whine under his breath.

If Orangutan heard him, he didn't acknowledge it. "Anyways," he said, shutting down further debate from Dog, "the next Aspect is Turtle. He and Dog will guide you to Octopus, after which you'll meet Kakapo." The ape paused, giving her a concerned look. "That's about a day's worth of travel. Sure you don't want to rest for a while?"

"Thanks, but I'd rather avoid any more delays. I'll keep going until I can't anymore." She didn't want to spend any longer than she had to in Beast Boy's mind.

Orangutan shrugged at that. "Suit yourself, then."

Raven nodded. "It was… nice meeting you," she said.

He adopted a look of mock shock. "I'm stunned, Rae. Any longer, and you'll start finding me _tolerable_."

"There's a frightening thought," she deadpanned. Then, turning to Dog, she said, "Let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

I rewrote this chapter. The main goal of the rewrite was to improve Orangutan's characterization. Previously, Orangutan wasn't a particularly strong character in his own right. He was little more than comedy relief, existing to play off Snake and Dog, and he didn't come off as especially intelligent. Now, he's more his own person, and unambiguously the smartest of the Aspects.

I had some difficulty with the pronouns in Orangutan and Snake's conversation. Should Orangutan say "you," because the prank is Snake's thing? Should he say "Beast Boy," because technically they're all Beast Boy, so Beast Boy will, ultimately, be the one doing the prank? Or should he say "we," and refer to the Aspects as a collective? *Sigh*

If I suck, tell me so I can fix it.


	6. Interlude II: Tortoise and the Beast

Well, this was unusual. It wasn't every day that Rex attacked Turtle out of the blue. Usually, there was some sort of warning, like Snake speeding by screaming that he'd pissed the tyrant off again, and to run for the hills.

Turtle briefly weighed whether to fight or flee. Unfortunately, he was a turtle, so neither was really an option. Fortunately, he didn't need either of them.

Rex pounded on his shell with his feet. "You can't stay in there forever."

"Actually, I can," Turtle said, his voice sounding hollow through the shell.

He felt his body being pushed. "Oh, _poop_," the terrapin thought.

The tyrant pushed him towards the beach that lay in his territory. It was hard work, but most of all, it was tedious. "Like goddamn Turtle, himself," the towering monster thought. He was used to hard tasks (and hard shells), but he was also used to swift victories — slamming his jaws together and _done_. He did not enjoy battles of attrition.

Rex paused, frowning. It occurred to him that he'd ended up fighting on Turtle's terms, somehow. He eyed the terrapin's impenetrable shell malevolently. Then he eyed the ocean, which was agreeably close.

Turtle smelled the ocean, then heard the ocean, and some time later, felt water lapping at his shell. It seemed the monster's plan was to drown him. He wondered if Rex had forgotten that he could always turn into a sea turtle.

"He'll just turn into a sea turtle," Rex remembered. But he smiled wickedly as he remembered something else. He started nudging him away from the surf.

Turtle was bewildered at the bigger animal's reversal, but was content to wait it out. Then he felt his whole world turn upside down. "_Son of a bitch_," he thought. The bastard had flipped him on his back.

Satisfied that Turtle had gotten the message, Rex gave the shell a last, spiteful kick. "If you'll pardon me," the king said pleasantly, "I've got the _ultimate_ prank to pull."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

For the record, Rex is _not_ the Beast, however the chapter title may imply it. I just couldn't resist the unnecessary and irrelevant dual-reference to "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "Beauty and the Beast."

If I suck, tell me so I can fix it.


	7. A Sound of Thunder

Raven and Dog reached the edge of Orangutan's territory, and as before, in a blink the forest was gone. The temperature was more mild, and a damp plain stretched out before them, dotted with rocks and clusters of trees.

"This is Turtle's place," Dog said. He glanced at her, then at the setting sun. "It's getting late. Sure you don't want to stop for the day — maybe wait for tomorrow?" He looked at her again, a hint of worry creeping in.

She appreciated his concern, but didn't want to stay overnight if she didn't have to. She had an exit to reach. "Let's get this over with," she said. They walked together for some time.

"Dog?" she asked, questions rolling around in her mind. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How many Aspects does Beast Boy have?"

"I don't know. Probably a lot." He gave her a sheepish look. "I think Orangutan's the only one that knows all of us."

Raven thought for a second. "Is there one for each animal he can turn into?"

Dog looked horrified. "I hope not. There's, like, a million species of insects, alone. Can you imagine how crowded it'd be in here?"

Once his initial horror faded away, Dog started mentally tallying each of the Aspects he did know. He wondered if he should introduce her to them, since she seemed so curious, but dismissed them all in turn. Lovebird had not been seen since Terra… _left_. Goat was probably busy climbing an impossible mountain or something. Packrat never left his trash pile. Cat loved attention, but Raven didn't. And Whip-poor-will existed purely to whistle the guitar solo from "Freebird" at godforsaken hours of the night. Besides, it would take too long to meet them all, and she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

They kept walking in silence, and eventually reached a small knoll.

Dog stopped. His hackles raised.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Turtle is missing. And I smell _Rex_," Dog said.

"Who's Rex?" she asked, and a shadow broke over them.

_Tyrannosaurus Rex_.

Raven tried to give the dinosaur an unconcerned look as it bared its teeth threateningly at her, but was caught off-guard by —

He roared. "I am _Tyrannosaurus Rex_! The TYRANT KING! And I am _not. Happy_." Raven considered and frowned; "not happy" said with that many teeth covered a lot of things — none of them good.

"You walk around like you fucking own the place! _Trespasser_!" Tyrannosaurus was most definitely not happy. Dog growled and barked at the dinosaur.

Raven drew herself up, and lectured back. "If you — Beast Boy — hadn't trespassed into my room and betrayed my trust by messing with my mirror — the thing most capable of harming me if mishandled — then I wouldn't be here."

She conveniently left out that safeguards made it impossible for others to open the mirror into her mind. The one time the safeguards failed had been when Rage pulled Beast Boy and Cyborg in, hoping to distract Raven while he attempted to, yet again, take over her mind. She was only in Beast Boy's mind right now because he was an idiot.

Tyrannosaurus did not look mollified. The dinosaur growled — or rather, breathed deep, raspy, and menacingly — before countering sarcastically, "Then, as the _responsible_, _god-like_ psychic that you are, I _suggest_ you find a way out."

"That's what I'm doing."

"Oh, really? 'Cause it seems to me like you're fucking around. Hummingbird's a spaz, Dog is pathetic, Snake is a coward, and Orangutan is content to fart around all day, but I — _I_ — will _not_ put up with your bullshit."

Dog ignored the insult and barked at him, ready to defend her. "Rex, she's not —"

"I'm not —" Raven started.

"Of course you're 'not.' You're always busy 'not,'" the dinosaur interrupted, "'Not' caring, 'not' feeling.

"You seem to do a pretty good job of doing what you need to do when you give a shit. Rage, Malchior, Trigon — you go into God-mode when it counts. You always know just what object to move, spell to cast, or mind to sense when it matters to you — so what's the matter now? Does Beast Boy's mind not matter enough for you to bother?"

At some point during the conversation, Tyrannosaurus had closed the distance between them, his words seeming more of a threat than the rest of him. He loomed too close for comfort, fearsome maw poised to strike, but letting his fangs fall short where his words did not.

He continued, "I'm hardly surprised. Beast Boy _only_ considers you a friend, but you don't seem to realize what that entails. Even if you did — there's no difference between not caring, and _acting_ like you don't care."

Raven was stunned, mouth hanging open, wondering where Beast Boy had learned how to be an asshole. The Tyrant King paused, considering her harshly for a moment.

"You may not value Beast Boy, but, for his sake, I hope you value yourself. So…"

He roared again. "_Get_ —" he lunged forward enough to scare her, "_The fuck_ —" snapped his jaws, "_Out_ _—_" and twisted his neck, as if to mime ripping her apart, "_!_"

"Azarath —" but he was too close and she would never finish the chant in time. But Dog was also close — close enough to leap onto Tyrannosaur's head, scraping him in the eye with one paw. He roared and shook his head instinctively at the irritation, giving Raven time to finish her chant and slam a massive clod of earth into the reptile's side. She raised herself into the air and focused her powers, breathing in for the chant, when —

Tyrannosaurus kicked Dog, clawed foot impacting fur, eliciting a yelp of pain. The reptile charged in the direction of the flung mammal.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" and a tree, shrouded in black, slammed into the Tyrant King's side, swaying him in his pursuit of the hound. He wheeled around, and Raven found herself wishing she'd attacked him from a greater distance, because now he was close too damn close, and those great teeth grazed her flesh as she hurled herself into the sky faster than she ever had before. She fled in terror in the direction Dog had been kicked, only she kept flying and flying far past where he would've landed.

And in the growing distance, she heard a sound of thunder — the roar of the mightiest predator to ever roam the land.

* * *

><p>The first hurt was from the monster's teeth. She could heal that in a few minutes.<p>

The second hurt was from Beast Boy, that part of his mind was just fine with killing her. That would take one long night to heal.

Raven landed in a forest. She didn't know if it was Orangutan's or Turtle's. Sinking down to the ground, she pulled her knees to her chest, healed her leg, and told herself that her ragged breaths were absolutely nothing like sobbing.

After some time, she found a third hurt. She had abandoned the part of Beast Boy most loyal to her. Guilt and regret seeped through her, bleeding from a wound that would take far longer than a single night to heal. Dog had fought for her, and she had left him behind.

A warm body approached her. "Hello, Rae," said Dog quietly.

She started, lifting her head from her knees to look at him. "—ven. Sorry. Rae-_ven_," he corrected himself. "Didn't I tell you I'd always be there for you?" he said, subdued but hopeful.

"Yes. You did," she choked, and awkwardly, Raven reached out to Dog, adjusting herself to better hug him. He almost froze at the unexpected contact, grey hands pressing into his fur, surprised with her insistence but readily yielding to it. He moved forward and let her bury her face in his fur, resting his muzzle against her neck as she still refused to cry.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

The title and line "A Sound of Thunder" come from the classic science fiction short story of the same name.

This is actually the first chapter of this story that I wrote. I wanted to put this out there so badly, I started writing the rest of it. (Fortunately, the rest of the story developed enough that this chapter was no longer the sole reason for putting it up. If a story exists to showcase a single scene, it's probably not a very good story.)

Making Rage responsible for sabotaging Raven's mirror was my way of addressing a glaring problem in the show: why on earth would Raven leave something so incredibly dangerous and magically potent as her mirror lying around, without any wards on it? It still doesn't answer the question of how Beast Boy was able to sabotage her mirror so easily (beyond "the author wanted it to happen, so it happened" :-)).

As always: if I suck, tell me so I can fix it.


	8. Interlude III: Terror and Might

Robin frowned when the other Titans joined him, huddling behind some crates in the specified warehouse.

Starfire was concerned. "You have not seen Raven?" she asked the others, knowing the answer and hoping she was wrong.

Cyborg shook his head.

"She's never missed a mission before," Robin said. "But we'll have to trust her. I'm sure she has her reasons. For now, we need to focus on stopping Red X." He switched tracks. "Where's Beast Boy?"

Cyborg answered. "He was riding with me, but he got real angry at me for some reason, and left."

Robin's frown deepened. They couldn't afford to be _two_ Titans short.

Starfire's concern grew. Beast Boy rarely got angry. She'd have to ask her green friend about it later. She shared a look with Cyborg, who then pointedly glanced at their leader.

"We shall trust him to show when we need him," Starfire declared. She did not like defending one friend from another, but both her and Cyborg had noticed how Robin wasn't quite as forthcoming with Beast Boy as he was with Raven.

"I'll have a talk with him later," Robin said.

* * *

><p>Today, Red X was stealing more parts for his suit. At least, he thought they'd go really well with suit. He wasn't certain how small-scale Xenothium overchargers worked, but they sounded like something he could use.<p>

It was a game to Red X. He stole things, and the Titans tried to stop him. There were rules, that he loved bending but not breaking, and there was a defined playing field, that even he didn't stray off.

"I'll have a talk with him later."

Red X smirked under his mask when he heard Robin's voice. He'd placed several bugs around the warehouse. Normally, the metal guy ("Cyborg," his mind supplied) would've scanned the area for traces of Xenothium and found them by now.

"They're getting sloppy," the thief thought. This was going to be easy, especially with two of them missing. Easy and fun, because fighting a frustrated Robin was always immensely entertaining.

He lazily swatted at a fly buzzing near him. "_Shit_," he thought. He leapt away, expecting to dodge a pair of gorilla arms, or maybe a tiger's claws.

He screamed in terror as a pair of immense jaws crushed his bones. The thief tried generating something — anything — with his suit, but the Tyrannosaurus slammed his head against a beam, forcing him to drop half-formed weapons while he struggled to stay conscious.

"Beast Boy! Stand down! _Stand down_!" Robin ordered, frantic and closing in on them. Beast Boy ignored him, and Red X didn't hear at all.

_"Don't black out don't black out don't black out_." Red X managed to generate a red cocoon around his exposed body, shielding him from further impacts. Forming an x-shaped blade, he sliced teeth out of the Tyrannosaur's jaw, slid his hand into the monster's mouth, and jammed the blade up, willing it to grow.

Red and green were joined by more red, and the dinosaur roared in pain from the sword running through his nasal cavity. The monster dropped his prey.

Red X hit the floor, the impact he still felt through his partial cocoon enough to finally make him black out. He lasted long enough to feel the towering mass over him shrink to human size.

Beast Boy stood over the thief, trying not to let the mouthfuls of blood overpower his sense of triumph. "I stopped him," he declared to the others, "which is more than you ever did."

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg all stared at him, not liking what they saw.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

I wasn't planning for a week between updates to become a month, but life always interferes that way.

I have been advised by a couple of web-friends (Hi, Dumpling and Refugee! :-D) to stop asking if I suck at the end of every chapter. Rest assured, I won't anymore.


	9. Breakfast of Champions

Raven woke up to feel something plastic and slimy touching her.

Dog mumbled something around the bag of chips in his mouth, before continuing to press it into Raven's hands. "Good morning," he repeated when she took it.

"Thanks," she said, too groggy to reject a smelly dog and some junk food.

He sat down and wagged his tail, clearly pleased with himself. She stared down at the bag, and finished waking up. "I'm going to need more than a bag of chips for breakfast," she said, wondering if there was even anything else to eat.

"Well, you won't eat tofu," the canine said.

She hesitated. Would eating here even do anything? She'd never eaten in her own mindscape. Would ingesting a part of Beast Boy's psyche, even a small bit made to be eaten, affect her? Affect Beast Boy?

She forced down her anxieties. (What if she needed to pee?) She had to eat.

"I will if I have to," she finally answered, and opened the bag.

Dog looked up from his grooming to grin at her. To his (Beast Boys?) credit, he hadn't pestered her while she was thinking. Though gnawing his own butt was perhaps a poor choice of actions when she was thinking of food. "You don't. Orangutan is bringing fruit salad."

Raven looked up from the crinkling bag in her lap. "Orangutan's coming?"

He stopped grinning. "You'll need all the help you can get to handle Rex."

"He's right," she thought, downing her meager meal. She _did_ need all the help she could get.

"Dog," she said when she was finished, "I need to meditate for a while." She cringed inside, and her lungs paused. She needed peace and quiet, but was afraid to push Dog away. Not after abandoning him last night.

Dog waited for the other half of her statement, but saw her hesitate. "And," he continued for her, "you need me to not bother you."

She nodded, finally exhaling and trying to be subtle about it. It didn't work.

Dog snorted. "For an empath, you can be awfully dense."

He earned a scowl for that, and he wagged his tail, happy to see normal Raven returning. It was refreshing to be around when she lowered her barriers against others, but he also knew better than to push her limits.

Raven closed her eyes. She lost track of time, as usually happened when she meditated. Falling into herself had the added benefit of shutting out the pressure of being in someone else's mind.

As an experiment, she pushed her mind out, and tried to filter through the overwhelming omnipresence of Beast Boy's mindscape. Her extra senses had been dulled yesterday, smothered by the avalanche of green, and consequently she hadn't been able to feel any of the Aspects as they approached her.

She lost track of time, but didn't waste it. She could already fish out the closer Aspects from the ocean of Beast Boy's mind. There was Dog, stretched out in the sun, heart beating steadfast. Orangutan was getting closer, in measured, thoughtful steps. A smaller, flitting presence was with him — that had to be Hummingbird. Farther away, an unfamiliar presence she assumed to be Turtle waited patiently. And farthest crouched Rex, self-satisfied and deadly.

Tyrannosaurus Rex. She steeled herself for another encounter with the Tyrant King. Brave she would need, along with Wisdom. Timid had to be minimized for now, as she would only hold her back. Rude and Anger she ruthlessly pushed down — they would only lead to trouble.

Breathing deep, Raven opened her eyes and rose to her feet. Orangutan and Hummingbird were almost there.

In the Tower, trying to meditate with Beast Boy in the same room was almost impossible, but here, Dog had been graciously quiet. She was grateful, and was growing to like this side of Beast Boy.

"I'm ready," she said. "And... thank you." She was still uncomfortable with thanking people, and afraid it showed. Years of carefully distancing herself from others made saying two short words feel unnatural.

He thumped his tail against the ground, letting her know he heard, and was too lazy to look up from his impromptu nap. "Pestering you is Hummingbird's job," he said, tail dropping to rest.

Orangutan arrived, pulling a child's wagon behind him with a bowl of fruit and a bouquet in it, with Hummingbird hovering nearby.

"I bring you the _fruits_ of my labor," said the ape, presenting her with the bowl. Raven rolled her eyes at the pun.

Dog eyed the bouquet. They were probably for Hummingbird (he refused to eat from hummingbird feeders, claiming they were insulting). But, Raven deserved an apology beyond just food, and there was a bunch of flowers _right there_.

"Hey!" Hummingbird squeaked as Dog grabbed the bouquet, gently placing it at her feet.

"These are for you," the mutt said. "We're sorry about last night. We're sorry you got hurt. It won't happen again."

Raven sighed, bowl of fruit in her hand and flowers at her feet. She was grateful, but it was all just a bit much for her. "Look, Dog, you're sorry about Rex. I forgive you," she said, firm but not harsh. "_I'm_ sorry about it. But I'd like to finish breakfast and get out of Beast Boys mind."

She noticed Hummingbird shooting the mutt a tiny glare. "And I think Hummingbird would also like to eat," she added.

"Do you always have to be such a dog, Dog?" Orangutan sighed, rolling his eyes, as Raven encased the bouquet in her power and floated it to the wagon.

They ate.

"What are we going to do about Rex?" she said, when their meal was done. _We_ and not _you_. Normally, she wouldn't go out of her way to interfere with another's mind. It raised uncomfortable ethical questions and uncomfortable assumptions of what she was capable of. But none of this was normal.

"He's dangerous and needs to be forced back," Orangutan said. She nodded at that. A healthy mind kept its Aspects in their proper place, using each at the proper time. And of all of them, Rex was rampaging, making Beast Boy a danger to everyone around him.

Orangutan, it turned out, was bursting with ideas for defeating Rex. The problem was Dog didn't like any of them. As he and Raven brainstormed, the canine lay to the side, unhelpfully nitpicking and bitching about purported flaws. After the fourth overly-critical objection, Orangutan's tolerance ran out.

"What is your problem?!" he burst, glaring at Dog.

"All of your plans pit Raven against Rex," the mutt answered.

"None of us are even close to Rex in strength. The three of us together can change things enough to harass him a little, but like it or not, Raven's the only fighter we have," he said. He wasn't supposed to be angry. He was supposed to be the smart one, but if certain animals refused to appreciate that, it certainly merited a little righteous fury. "She's _powerful_ — unlike a mutt like you. We've all seen her fight. She fought him before, and came out alive."

"Barely," Dog said. He didn't stand or sit up, though he raised his hackles. He made no threats, but let his fur suggest that they could always be made.

"If we die, Beast Boy will be emotionally crippled, and eventually recover," the hound said. "If Raven dies, she's dead forever."

"Who's the brains here? That's right, me." He put his hands on his hands on his hips, knowing the size of him arms made the gesture more intimidating. If Dog wanted to fight with body language, so would he. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't care?" He shuffled forward a little. "All battles involve some risk. She's a superhero — she risks her life every day!"

Dog stood up. "You say you help whoever asks. But who are you helping, now? Raven? Or Beast Boy?"

"I can help both," Orangutan bit out, hands and jaw clenching and unclenching.

A little more hair stood up on Dog's back. "I think you're helping yourself. You're so desperate to show her how _smart_ Beast Boy can be —"

"And _you're _so desperate to show you're _such _a great friend, you've forgotten about Beast Boy!"

Raven sat staring at them, wide-eyed and forgotten.

Hummingbird landed on her shoulder. "Breakfast and a show, huh?" the tiny bird said, unflappably positive. She looked at him, noting the how happy he looked to just be sitting on her shoulder. His brilliant green and blue feathers shined just right, while her own dark blue cloak looked dead against the light...

"Uh, Rae?" the tiny bird said, poking her nose.

"Sorry, trying to distract myself." She faced the other two. "I don't like having to be the leader." She sighed. "But we need to get things done."

"Beast Boy's in a cell right now; it's not like he can hurt anyone!" Dog had changed into a much bigger dog, and his nose and teeth were inch's away from Orangutan. The ape had turned into a chimpanzee, baring his own fangs, ready to wrench Dog's legs out from under him.

Raven floated to her feet and steeled herself.

"Fine then!" the simian screamed, throwing his arms up. "I'll do it myself! Why bother with you when I can call the others! So go ahead and run away with your little girlfriend!"

Black bands clamped over their mouths. "I'm not little, or anyone's girlfriend," she said.

"Really?!" Hummingbird sounded far too happy. "I thought you and —" Another band shut his beak.

"Both of you are going to stop fighting. I have enough headaches for the both of us; Beast Boy doesn't need one, too." She felt like a teacher handling a few particularly unyielding students.

Under her glare all they could do was nod. She let the bands fade.

"Orangutan," she said, facing him. "Tell me why Beast Boy is in a cell."

The ape scratched the back of his head nervously. "Rex gained control of him last night. He almost killed Red X," he said, avoiding her gaze.

"Does he still have control of him?"

Awkward thumb-twiddling. "Yes. But, uh..." he hesitated.

"But what?" she pressed.

Dog spoke up. "It's hard for us to tell what Beast Boy's actually doing when you're close by. Your presence," he said, nervously scratching himself, "uh, interferes. In a way."

Raven nodded slowly. There was no point in protesting facts. She paused, gathering her thoughts, and took a deep breathe. Leadership never came naturally to her.

"Orangutan, you call the other Aspects for help," she said in her best impression of Robin giving orders. "Then, we go to stop Rex." In a cell or not, Rex couldn't be left in control of Beast Boy.

The simian immediately whipped out a microphone. "Hello, hello," he spoke into it. His words echoed from a speaker hidden in a nearby tree.

Raven twitched. "You have an intercom?"

"Uh, yes," he answered sheepishly.

The day was shaping up to be a series of headaches. "And you didn't use it until now because...?"

He waved the microphone timidly. "Because I didn't think of changing the mindscape to have one until now?"

The sorceress stared at him for a moment.

He coughed. "Ahem," he said, holding the microphone up to his mouth. "This is Orangutan speaking. Calling all Aspects. This is urgent: Rex is in control and needs to be stopped. Head for the big hill in Turtle's place."

Satisfied, Raven impatiently turned to look west, where Rex was.

"Um, so it'll be just Orangutan, you, me, and Hummingbird?" Dog asked hesitantly, in a last effort to nudge her towards safety.

Raven just nodded.

"If we pick up Turtle, he can be with us, too!" Hummingbird added cheerily.

"A turtle. I'm sure a turtle will be incredibly helpful," the sorceress deadpanned. But, they needed all the help they could get holding off Rex until the rest of the Aspects arrived. Beast Boy was in a cell — what harm was a short detour to gather reinforcements?

She sighed. "Fine. Let's go pick up Turtle."

* * *

><p>Turtle was lying on his back in the sand. It was warm and sunny, the surf was inviting, and he didn't care because he was stuck upside down. But his extra senses picked up a familiar presence, growing stronger. Orangutan was approaching. He didn't care that this still meant waiting — waiting for something was better than waiting for nothing. So he waited.<p>

Turtle was one of the few Aspects with the patience needed to feel where his fellows were. Kakapo could, too, and Orangutan when he wasn't busying himself with games and gadgets. There might've been others, but Turtle rarely allowed himself suspicions. He couldn't keep up with intrigue, and working off guesswork alone was stupid. His actions had to be true, because he took so long to finish them.

When Rex had started moving, Turtle had felt him bulldozing across the mindscape, advancing faster than word could spread. The terrapin had known there was nothing he could do, and had continued to enjoy his lunch. (The blossoms were coming out, and they were delicious.) He'd pulled inside his shell only when the dinosaur had charged him.

"I guess you need some help?" Orangutan's voice interrupted the reptile's thoughts.

Turtle took a moment to finish thinking. His train of thought did not just _stop_ — he slowed it with great deliberation.

Raven's eyebrows raised as Turtle took a solid ten seconds to respond. The others seemed to find this normal.

"Would one of you flip me over?" he asked.

She reached out with a great black hand to right him, but he shrunk down to the size of a box turtle just as she did so. She hesitated for just a moment at this, and Orangutan seized him, already talking about everything that happened, that Raven was here and Snake was a rat and Dog was so industrious and shouldn't he be thanking his friend for picking him up?

"Thank you, Raven," Turtle said. Orangutan sighed — Raven hadn't helped Turtle at all. No one ever listened to him, especially his terrapin friend, whose head was thicker than his shell. And even when they did listen, he never got any credit for his brilliance.

Turtle ignored the ape's sigh. There had been no misfire, no fumbling of others' feelings. Turtle said what he felt needed saying, and Raven needed encouragement from her friends, while Orangutan did not. Raven nodded, and content with his actions, he was free to continue ignoring Orangutan.

The savory smell of young shoots drifted in front of him, and the tortoise reared his head up to better smell it.

Orangutan smirked. "Do I have your attention now?" he asked.

Darn it. The ape had tweaked the mindscape to grab his attention. "Yes," he replied. "What's the plan, then?"

Orangutan chest swelled. He lived to hear those words. "The five of us are going to try and stop Rex. The other Aspects will join us as they arrive."

Raven was ignoring them both. Something was shifting violently on the edge of her senses, and she was trying to feel it out.

Turtle noticed it too. His senses were not as distracted by Raven as the others. "Rex is fighting," he said. "Here, and in real life."

* * *

><p>Impulse told him to move <em>now<em>, and Rex strained against his instincts.

He was not a patient Aspect. Prey should be hunted at sunrise and eaten at breakfast, not hunted for breakfast and eaten at lunch. Long battles meant delaying the feel of death between his teeth, and still-warm flesh passing down his throat.

He tried to be courteous. In his own territory, he would only attack after regally presenting himself to his prey. He certainly liked his battles challenging — each day he summoned new and interesting opponents — but in the end, when they retreated bleeding, he graciously allowed them their pick of ravines to be cornered in, and broke their bones against only the most suitable boulders.

He couldn't afford courtesy today. Turtle's territory was soft and open, and killing his prey before breakfast required an ambush for that early, crippling blow.

His prey was close. Close enough. Muscles pulled, pulled, pulled, driving him forward and crushing his mouth around Cinderblock's shoulder.

A concrete fist hammered into Rex's side, shoving the dinosaur away from him.

The great lizard eyed the large crack in his prey's shoulder, watching the stone giant grip the wound. It was enough. He charged again and again, chipping teeth as he bit the same rock shoulder again. Cinderblock screamed as the joint finally shattered, and whimpered as Rex pulled his arm off his body.

He could've waited for his prey to die. Could've waited for Cinderblock to weaken until he could no longer fight. But Rex did not like waiting for prey. He fought for it, wrested its life with his own maw.

The Tyrant King tossed the arm aside and slammed the weakening golem.

Raven stared. Rock wasn't supposed to bleed.

As Cinderblock stopped breathing, bleeding out onto the dirt and grass, Rex turned to Raven and the others.

"I've just caught breakfast. Care to join me?" His toothy grin left no room for "no."

Rex ripped a hunk of flesh from Cinderblock. _Bleh_. He should've known. This was still Turtle's territory, after all, and Rex was alone in his like for meat. But, victory was victory, even when it tasted funny.

"Don't worry," he said to Raven when he caught her staring. "It's only tofu. And this red?" He gestured. "Food coloring."

The empath looked up at him, face carefully blank. "But you're still killing something and eating its body."

Rex smiled at that. "I know. _Delicious_, isn't it?" Raven wasn't sure if he meant the irony or the tofu.

The great lizard eyed her and her companions. He was unimpressed. "Only five of you? That's not nearly enough to stop me. I've had control of Beast Boy since this morning. I _still_ have control. By the time any others get here, it'll be too late."

She had to work very hard to keep her worry from showing. "What are you making him do?" she asked, voice controlled.

The tyrant gave an affronted look. "I'm not 'making' Beast Boy do anything — I _am_ him. Right now, he's merely," he paused to grin, head cocked arrogantly, "_asserting_ himself."

A dozen horrible things passed through Raven's mind.

Rex snorted at her expression. "Oh, please. Don't worry your pretty little head. No innocents will be harmed. Only those who deserve it."

"Whom. _Whom_ deserve it," Orangutan muttered pettily. Raven felt a little bit better, having a kindred spirit by her side.

Rex ripped another chunk of flesh from Cinderblock's corpse.

* * *

><p>That morning, Beast Boy woke up in a steel-plated cell. He felt better than ever. Angrier.<p>

Who did Robin think he was, punishing him just because he'd asserted himself a little last night?

Yesterday, Red X couldn't stop him, Robin couldn't order him.

Today, no cell could hold him.

The Tower alert blared out, red lights glaring. Beast Boy stood in front of the main computer in the common room, seeing the words "Hive Five" flash onto the screen.

The rest of the team was already out fighting a different criminal. They'd either split up or finish the first job before moving on to this one.

His hand paused over the cancel button. A tiny voice in the back of his head whispered, "Don't." And another, louder, saying, "Yes."

The klaxons stopped blaring and the red lights stopped glaring. The rest of the team could piddle around all they wanted with petty bank robbers. _Fuck 'em_. He had real supervillains to stop.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Well damn, the first version of this chapter I uploaded was missing the second half of a sentence. That's been rectified. I also ironed some typos out of the earlier chapters. "Be your own beta" is never as good as an idea as you think it is.

The argument between Orangutan and Dog feels odd to me. It just sort of _happened_ in the course of writing this chapter. Let me know what you think.

My apologies for taking so long with this chapter. Double-apologies for letting the one-year anniversary of this story pass without an update.


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